Child-welfare officials are investigating allegations of abuse and neglect at Springfield’s Hope Institute for Children and Families, a state spokeswoman said Monday.

“Our work there is pending, and due to the ongoing investigation, we have increased our monitoring activities on-site,” said Karen Hawkins, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

Hope, a 56-year-old not-for-profit organization that serves children and young adults with autism and other developmental disabilities, provides residential services to about 130 people in Springfield. About 60 live on its main campus at 15 East Hazel Dell Lane, and about 70 live in 14 group homes elsewhere in Springfield.

Hope Institute spokesman Mark Schmidt said Hope officials are “working closely and fully with DCFS to make sure our children receive the appropriate care. … I know that DCFS has been looking at a few issues.”

Schmidt wouldn’t divulge those issues but did confirm that the investigation began about Nov. 27.

That same week, Springfield police filed a report of a “non-verbal” 10-year-old boy who was living on Hope’s campus and was found with bruises all over his body and a broken right arm.

The report indicated that no criminal charges were filed at the time.

The report didn’t say how the boy had been hurt.

The boy also had spent time at Lincoln Prairie Behavioral Health Center, a for-profit psychiatric hospital for children at 5230 S. Sixth Street Frontage Road on Springfield’s south side, according to the police report.

Deputy Police Chief Cliff Buscher had no further information Monday.

Mark Littrell, Lincoln Prairie’s chief executive officer, said he didn’t know anything about the boy and wouldn’t comment on the case even if he did know.

Hope Institute provides residential, education and medical services and receives a majority of its $42 million annual budget from the state. It employs 680 people across the state. A majority of those employees are in Springfield.

The organization received approval this year from the Springfield City Council for a zoning variance that will allow Hope to replace dormitory-style residential buildings on its campus with up to 10 single-family residential buildings for clients.

The project, expected to cost between $5 million and $10 million and be completed over the next five to 10 years, remains pending, Schmidt said.